Female Genital Cutting Research - Background

Background on the FGC statistics

To create estimates of the number of women with or at risk for female genital cutting (FGC) in the US (table 3), researchers followed the original 1990 CDC methodology as closely as possible, while modifying for new census questions as needed. The research and analysis was provided by the Population Reference Bureau.

Table 1: FGC prevalence rates by African country

Sources: Estimated prevalence rates have been developed from national surveys and small studies. Estimates from national Demographic and Health Surveys, ORC Macro (www.measuredhs.com) include: Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, Yemen. Other country estimates are from the World Health Organization from different years (derived from UN surveys, small country studies, and anecdotal information).

Women living in the US reporting place of birth or ancestry as country with FGC prevalence rate higher than five percent

Note: There were a small proportion of women and girls in the census sample (1 percent) who did not report a specific country of birth or ancestry, but who reported an African region instead. For these individuals, rates were estimated by applying weighted prevalence based on the country-specific data within each region.

Women and girls who reported a place of birth or ancestry only as "Africa" were excluded from the analysis.

Women Estimated to Have Had or to Potentially Be at Risk for FGC

Women living in the US estimated to be at risk of FGC, by state

Note: These numbers only represent the total estimated number of African immigrants and refugees in an individual state. Because the number of women is not broken down by reported place of birth or ancestry, estimates of the prevalence of FGC cannot be obtained.

Women living in the US estimated to have had or be at risk for FGC, by metropolitan area

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